Mobile terminal, communication system, communicating method, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

A mobile communication terminal receives, from a first communication terminal, first terminal identification information for identifying the first communication terminal, controls a display to display type information indicating a type of the first terminal identification information as being selectable by a user, and transmits the first terminal identification information to a counterpart mobile communication tenninal, in response to a user selection of the type of the first terminal identification information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35U.S.C. §119(a) to Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2015-118125, filed onJun. 11, 2015, and 2016-112884, filed on Jun. 6, 2016, in the JapanPatent Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference herein.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present invention relates to communicating with a counterpartcommunication terminal.

Description of the Related Art

With the increased need for reducing business trip costs and time inrecent years, videoconference systems are now widely used. Thevideoconference systems transmit or receive image data and audio dataamong a plurality of communication terminals such as videoconferenceterminals.

In order to start communication with a counterpart communicationterminal, a user at a communication terminal usually selects acommunication application compatible with the counterpart communicationterminal for activation, and further inputs terminal identificationinformation for identifying the counterpart communication terminal. Thiscould be cumbersome and time-consuming.

SUMMARY

Example embodiments of the present invention include a mobilecommunication terminal including: a receiver to receive, from a firstcommunication terminal, first terminal identification information foridentifying the first communication terminal, the first communicationterminal being a counterpart communication terminal for a secondcommunication terminal; circuitry to control a display to display typeinformation indicating a type of the first terminal identificationinformation as being selectable by a user; and a transmitter to transmitthe first terminal identification information to a counterpart mobilecommunication terminal, in response to a user selection of the type ofthe first terminal identification information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages and features thereof can be readily obtained and understoodfrom the following detailed description with reference to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a part of a communicationsystem relating to videoconference communication, according to anexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardwareconfiguration of the communication terminal of FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardwareconfiguration of a communication management system and a relay device ofthe communication system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardwareconfiguration of an electronic whiteboard of the communication system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a hardwareconfiguration of a smart phone or a tablet of the communication systemof FIG. 1;

FIG. 6A is a schematic block diagram illustrating a softwareconfiguration of the communication terminal as the videoconferenceterminal according to the embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6B is a schematic block diagram illustrating a softwareconfiguration of the communication terminal as the electronic whiteboardaccording to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a network configuration ofthe communication system of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 8A and 8B (FIG. 8) are a schematic block diagram illustrating afunctional configuration of the communication system of FIG. 1 accordingto the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an illustration of an example data structure of anauthentication management table;

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an example data structure of a terminalmanagement table;

FIG. 11 is an illustration of an example data structure of a contactlist management table;

FIG. 12 is an illustration of an example data structure of an additionrequest management table;

FIG. 13 is an illustration of an example data structure of anear-distance communication circuit;

FIG. 14 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of providingterminal identification information, performed by the communicationterminal of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is an illustration of an example screen for display in providingthe terminal identification information;

FIG. 16 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation oftransmitting or receiving the terminal identification information,performed by mobile terminals, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 17A and 17B are an illustration of example screens for display ata mobile terminal at one side, and FIG. 17C is an illustration of anexample screen for display at a mobile terminal at the other side;

FIGS. 18A and 18B (FIG. 18) are a data sequence diagram illustratingoperation of preparing for communication between the communicationterminals of the communication system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 19 is an illustration of an example contact list screen;

FIG. 20 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of providingterminal identification information, from the mobile terminal to thecommunication terminal of the communication system of FIG. 1, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is an example screen to be displayed at the mobile terminal;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating operation of identifying adestination according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 23A and 23B (FIG. 23) are a data sequence diagram illustratingoperation of adding a candidate counterpart terminal to a contact list,according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is an illustration of an example screen for requesting approvalto add a candidate counterpart terminal to the contact list; and

FIG. 25 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of preparingfor transmission of image data and audio data between the communicationterminals of the communication system of FIG. 1.

The accompanying drawings are intended to depict example embodiments ofthe present invention and should not be interpreted to limit the scopethereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn toscale unless explicitly noted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the presentinvention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“includes” and/or “including”, when used in this specification, specifythe presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

In describing example embodiments shown in the drawings, specificterminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the presentdisclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology soselected and it is to be understood that each specific element includesall technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner.

Referring to the drawings, some embodiments of the present invention aredescribed.

<Configuration of Communication System>

Referring to FIG. 1, a communication system 1 for carrying outvideoconference among a plurality of communication terminals (10, 70) isdescribed according to the embodiment. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagramillustrating a portion of the communication system 1, which relates tovideoconference being carried out between the communication terminals 10and 70.

In the following, it is assumed that the communication system 1 managestransmission of content data to carry out videoconference among theterminals. Alternatively, the communication system 1 may managetransmission of content data to carry out casual conversation among theusers at different sites.

The communication system 1 includes the plurality of communicationterminals (10, 70), a relay device 30, and a communication managementsystem 50. The communication terminal transmits or receives image dataand audio data as an example of content data. In FIG. 1, thecommunication terminal may be implemented by a videoconference terminal10 in one example, or by en electronic whiteboard 70 in another example.The image data may be a video image or a still image, or both of thevideo image and the still image.

In this disclosure, the communication terminal that sends a request forstarting videoconference is referred to as the “starting terminal”, andthe communication terminal serving as a request destination (relaydestination) of videoconference is referred to as the “counterpartterminal”. In FIG. 1, the communication terminal 10 is referred to asthe starting terminal, and the communication terminal 70 is referred toas the counterpart terminal. Alternatively, when the communicationterminal 70 requests to start videoconference with the communicationterminal 10, the communication terminal 70 is referred to as thestarting terminal, and the communication terminal 10 is referred to asthe counterpart terminal. Note that the communication terminal may beused not only for communication between different offices or forcommunication between different rooms in the same office, but also forcommunication within the same room or for outdoor-indoor communicationor outdoor-outdoor communication.

The relay device 30 relays content data among the plurality ofcommunication terminals 10 and 70. The communication management system50 centrally controls login authentication of the communicationterminal, management of the communication state of the communicationterminal, management of a contact list, and management of thecommunication state or the like of the relay device 30. The relaydevices 30 and the management system 50 in the above-describedembodiment may be configured by a single computer or a plurality ofcomputers to which divided portions (functions) are arbitrarilyallocated.

In the communication system 1, a management data session “sei” isestablished between the starting terminal 70 and the counterpartterminal 10 via the communication management system 50 to transmit orreceive various management data. Between the starting terminal 70 andthe counterpart terminal 10, four sessions are established via the relaydevice 30 to transmit or receive four items of data includinghigh-resolution image data, intermediate-resolution image data,low-resolution image data, and audio data. In FIG. 1, these foursessions are collectively referred to as image and audio data session“sed”. The image and audio data session “sed” may not always includefour sessions, but any number of sessions greater than or less thanfour. Any communication terminal (10 or 70) may communicate with eachother through directly establishing a session with each other withoutintervening the relay device 30.

Now, resolution of image data to be processed in this embodiment isdescribed. The low-resolution image data serves as a base image and hashorizontal 160 pixels by vertical 120 pixels. Theintermediate-resolution image data has horizontal 320 pixels by vertical240 pixels. The high-resolution image data has horizontal 640 pixels byvertical 480 pixels. In the case of a narrow band path, low-qualityimage data that only includes low-resolution image data serving as abase image is relayed. In the case of a relatively wide band path,intermediate-quality image data including low-resolution image dataserving as a base image and intermediate-resolution image data isrelayed. In the case of a very wide band path, high-quality image dataincluding low-resolution image data serving as a base image,intermediate-resolution image data, and high-resolution image data isrelayed. Since audio data is relatively small in data size, the audiodata is relayed even in the case of a narrow band path.

<Hardware Configuration of Communication System>

Now, a hardware configuration of the communication system 1 isdescribed.

<Hardware Configuration of Videoconference Terminal>

FIG. 2 illustrates a hardware configuration of the videoconferenceterminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, the videoconference terminal as an example of thecommunication terminal includes a central processing unit (CPU) 101, aread only memory (ROM) 102, a random access memory (RAM) 103, a flashmemory 104, a solid state drive (SSD) 105, a medium interface (I/F) 107,an operation key 108, a power switch 109, a bus line 110, a network I/F111, a camera 112, an imaging device I/F 113, a microphone 114, aspeaker 115, an audio input/output I/F 116, a display I/F 117, anexternal device connection I/F 118, a near-distance communicationcircuit 119, and an antenna 119 a for the near-distance communicationcircuit 119. The CPU 101 controls entire operation of the communicationterminal 10. The ROM 102 stores a control program for operating the CPU101 such as an Initial Program Loader (IPL). The RAM 103 is used as awork area for the CPU 101. The flash memory 104 stores various data suchas a communication control program, image data, and audio data. The SSD105 controls reading or writing of various data to or from the flashmemory 105 under control of the CPU 101. In alternative to the SSD, ahard disk drive (HDD) may be used. The medium I/F 107 controls readingor writing of data with respect to a recording medium 106 such as aflash memory. The operation key 108 is operated by a user to input auser instruction such as a user selection of a destination of thecommunication terminal 10. The power switch 109 turns on or off thepower of the communication terminal 10.

The network I/F 111 allows communication of data with an external devicethrough a communication network 4 such as the Internet. The camera 112is an example of imaging device capable of capturing a subject undercontrol of the CPU 101, and may be incorporated in the communicationterminal. The imaging element device I/F 113 is a circuit that controlsdriving of the camera 112. The microphone 114 is an example of audiocollecting device capable of inputting audio under control of the CPU101, and may be incorporated in the communication terminal. The audioI/O I/F 116 is a circuit for inputting or outputting an audio signalbetween the microphone 114 and the speaker 115 under control of the CPU101. The display I/F 117 is a circuit for transmitting image data to theexternal display 120 under control of the CPU 101. The external deviceconnection I/F 118 is an interface circuit that connects the terminal 10to various external devices. The near-distance communication circuit 119is a communication circuit in compliance with a near-field communication(NFC; Registered Trademark) or Bluetooth (Registered Trademark).

The bus line 110 may be an address bus or a data bus, which electricallyconnects various elements such as the CPU 101 of FIG. 2.

The display 120 may be a liquid crystal or organic electroluminescence(EL) display that displays an image of a subject, an operation icon, orthe like. The display 120 is connected to the display I/F 117 by thecable 120 c. The cable 120 c may be an analog red green blue (RGB)(video graphic array (VGA)) signal cable, a component video cable, ahigh-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) signal cable, or a digitalvideo interactive (DVI) signal cable.

The camera 112 includes a lens and a solid-state imaging element thatconverts an image (video) of a subject to electronic data by convertinglight to electric charge. As the solid-state imaging element, forexample, a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) or acharge-coupled device (CCD) is used. The external device connection I/F118 is capable of connecting an external device such as an externalcamera, an external microphone, or an external speaker through aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) cable or the like. In the case where anexternal camera is connected, the external camera is driven inpreference to the built-in camera 112 under control of the CPU 101.Similarly, in the case where an external microphone is connected or anexternal speaker is connected, the external microphone or the externalspeaker is driven in preference to the built-in microphone 114 or thebuilt-in speaker 115 under control of the CPU 101.

The recording medium 106 is removable from the communication terminal10. In addition, a non-volatile memory that reads or writes data undercontrol of the CPU 101 is not limited to the flash memory 104, and anelectrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) may beused instead.

<Hardware Configuration of Communication Management System and RelayDevice>

Referring to FIG. 3, a hardware configuration of the communicationmanagement system 50 and the relay device 30 is described according toan embodiment of the present invention. The communication managementsystem 50, which may be implemented by a server computer, includes acentral processing unit (CPU) 501, a read only memory (ROM) 502, arandom access memory (RAM) 503, a hard disk (HD) 504, a hard disk drive(HDD) 505, a recording medium 506, a medium I/F 507, a display 508, anetwork I/F 509, a keyboard 511, a mouse 512, a CD-ROM drive 514, and abus line 510.

The CPU 510 controls entire operation of the communication managementsystem 50. The ROM 502 stores a control program for controlling the CPU501 such as an IPL. The RAM 503 is used as a work area for the CPU 501.The HD 504 stores various data such as the communication managementprogram. The HDD 505 controls reading or writing of various data to orfrom the HDD 504 under control of the CPU 501. The medium I/F 507controls reading or writing of data with respect to a recording medium506 such as a flash memory. The display 508 displays various informationsuch as a cursor, menu, window, characters, or image. The network I/F509 allows communication of data with an external device through thecommunication network 4 such as the Internet. The keyboard 511 is oneexample of input device provided with a plurality of keys for allowing auser to input characters, numerals, or various instructions. The mouse512 is one example of input device for allowing the user to select aspecific instruction or execution, select a target for processing, ormove a curser being displayed. The CD-ROM drive 514 reads or writesvarious data with respect to a CD-ROM 513, which is one example ofremovable recording medium.

The bus line 510 may be an address bus or a data bus, which electricallyconnects various elements such as the CPU 501 of FIG. 3.

Since the relay device 30 in FIG. 1 is substantially similar in hardwareconfiguration to the communication management system 50, the descriptionthereof is omitted. The relay device 30, however, stores a relay controlprogram in the HD 504 in alternative to the management program.

<Hardware Configuration of Electronic Whiteboard>

FIG. 4 illustrates a hardware configuration of the communicationterminal 70, when implemented by the electronic whiteboard, according tothe embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the electronic whiteboard 70,as an example of communication terminal 70, includes a CPU 701, a ROM702, a RAM 703, a SSD 704, a network controller 705, and an externaldevice connection I/F 706, which are connected through the bus line 710.

The CPU 701 controls entire operation of the electronic whiteboard 70.The ROM 702 stores a control program for controlling the CPU 701 such asan IPL. The RAM 503 is used as a work area for the CPU 701. The SSD 704stores various data such as the control program for the electronicwhiteboard 70. The network controller 705 controls communication with anexternal device through the communication network 2. The external devicecontroller 706 controls communication with an external device such as aUSB memory 755, and external devices such as a camera 762, a speaker765, a microphone 764, etc.

The electronic whiteboard 70 further includes a capturing device 711, agraphics processing unit (GPU) 71, a display controller 713, a sensorcontroller 714, a contact sensor 715, an electronic pen controller 716,a near-distance communication circuit 719, and an antenna 719 a for thenear-distance communication circuit 719.

The capturing device 711 causes a display of a notebook PC 756 todisplay a video image or a still image based on image data that iscaptured by the capturing device 711. In this way, the image beingdisplayed on the display 753 of the electronic whiteboard 70 can beshared with the external display. The GPU 712 is a semiconductor chipdedicated to processing a graphical image. The display controller 713controls display of an image processed at the GPU 712 for output througha display 753 provided with the electronic whiteboard 70. The contactsensor 715 detects a touch onto the display 753 with an electronic pen754 or a user's hand H. The sensor controller 714 controls operation ofthe contact sensor 715. The contact sensor 715 senses a touch input to aspecific coordinate on the display 735 using the infrared blockingsystem. More specifically, the display 753 is provided with two lightreceiving elements disposed on both upper side ends of the display 753,and a reflector frame. The light receiving elements emit a plurality ofinfrared rays in parallel to a touch panel of the display 753. The lightreceiving elements receive lights passing in the direction that is thesame as an optical path of the emitted infrared rays, which arereflected by the reflector frame. The contact sensor 715 outputs anidentifier (ID) of the infrared ray that is blocked by an object (suchas the user's hand) after being emitted from the light receivingelements, to the sensor controller 714. Based on the ID of the infraredray, the sensor controller 715 detects a specific coordinate that istouched. The electronic pen controller 716 communicates with theelectronic pen 754 to detect a touch by the tip or bottom of the pen 754to the display 753. The near-distance communication circuit 719 is acommunication circuit that communicates in compliance with the NFC(Registered Trademark), the Bluetooth (Registered Trademark), and thelike.

The bus line 710 is an address bus or a data bus, which electricallyconnects the elements in FIG. 4 such as the CPU 701.

The contact sensor 715 is not limited to the infrared blocking systemtype, and may be a different type of detector, such as a capacitancetouch panel that identifies the contact position by detecting a changein capacitance, a resistance film touch panel that identifies thecontact position by detecting a change in voltage of two opposedresistance films, or an electromagnetic induction touch panel thatidentifies the contact position by detecting electromagnetic inductioncaused by contact of an object to a display. In addition or inalternative to detecting a touch by the tip or bottom of the pen 754,the electronic pen controller 716 may also detect a touch by anotherpart of the electronic pen 754, such as a part held by a hand.

<Hardware Configuration of Smart phone>

FIG. 5 illustrates a hardware configuration of a smart phone, accordingto the embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 5,the communication terminal 90, which may be implemented by a smartphone, includes a CPU 901, a ROM 902, a RAM 903, a Electrically Erasableand Programmable ROM (EEPROM) 904, a Complementary Metal OxideSemiconductor (CMOS) sensor 905, an acceleration and orientation sensor906, a medium I/F 908, and a GPS receiver 909, which are connectedthrough a bus line 910.

The CPU 901 controls entire operation of the smart phone 90. The ROM 902stores a control program for controlling the CPU 901 such as an IPL. TheRAM 903 is used as a work area for the CPU 901. The EEPROM 904 reads orwrites various data such as a communication terminal control programunder control of the CPU 901. The CMOS sensor 905 captures an objectunder control of the CPU 901 to obtain captured image data. Theacceleration and orientation sensor 906 includes various sensors such asan electromagnetic compass or gyrocompass for detecting geomagnetism andan acceleration sensor. The medium I/F 908 controls reading or writingof data with respect to a recording medium 907 such as a flash memory.The GPS receiver 909 receives a GPS signal from a GPS satellite.

The communication terminal 90 further includes a far-distancecommunication circuit 911, a camera 912, an imaging element I/F 913, amicrophone 914, a speaker 915, an audio input/output I/F 918, a display917, an external device connection I/F 918, a near-distancecommunication circuit 919, an antenna 919a for the near-distancecommunication circuit 919, and a touch panel 921.

The far-distance communication circuit 911 is a circuit thatcommunicates with the other device through a mobile communicationnetwork. The camera 912 is an example of imaging device capable ofcapturing a subject under control of the CPU 901, and is incorporated inthe communication terminal 90, which is the smart phone. The imagingelement device I/F 913 is a circuit that controls driving of the camera912. The microphone 914 is an example of audio collecting device capableof inputting audio under control of the CPU 901, and is incorporated inthe communication terminal 90. The audio I/O I/F 916 is a circuit forinputting or outputting an audio signal between the microphone 914 andthe speaker 915 under control of the CPU 901. The display 915 may be aliquid crystal or organic electro luminescence (EL) display thatdisplays an image of a subject, an operation icon, or the like. Theexternal device connection I/F 918 is an interface circuit that connectsthe terminal 90 to various external devices. The near-distancecommunication circuit 919 is a communication circuit that communicatesin compliance with the NFC (Registered Trademark), the Bluetooth(Registered Trademark), and the like. The touch panel 921 is an exampleof input device that enables the user to input a user instructionthrough touching a screen of the display 917.

The bus line 910 is an address bus or a data bus, which electricallyconnects the elements in FIG. 5 such as the CPU 901.

The communication terminal 90 may be implemented by a tablet, a smartwatch, portable phone, or portable game machine.

Further, the terminal control program may be recorded in a file in aformat installable or executable on a computer-readable recording mediumsuch as the recording medium 907 for distribution. Examples of therecording medium include, but not limited to, a compact disc-recordable(CD-R), digital versatile disc (DVD), blue-ray disc, and SD card.

<Software Configuration of Communication Terminal>

FIG. 6A illustrates a software configuration of the communicationterminal 10 as the videoconference terminal according to the embodimentof the invention. As illustrated in FIG. 6A, the communication terminal10 is installed with an operating system (OS) 1020, first communicationapplication A1, second communication application A2, and thirdcommunication application A3, each of which operates on a work area 1010of the RAM 103.

The OS 1020 is basic software that controls entire operation of thevideoconference terminal 10 through providing basic functions. Thecommunication application A1, A2, and A3 each enable the videoconferenceterminal 10 to communicate with the other communication terminal, usingdifferent communication protocols.

FIG. 6B illustrates a software configuration of the communicationterminal 70 as the electronic whiteboard according to the embodiment ofthe invention. As illustrated in FIG. 6B, the communication terminal 70is installed with an OS 7020, first communication application A1, secondcommunication application A2, and third communication application A3,each of which operates on a work area 7010 of the RAM 703.

The OS 7020 is basic software that controls entire operation of theelectronic whiteboard 70 through providing basic functions. Thecommunication application A1, A2, and A3 are the same as thecommunication A1, A2, and A3 installed with the videoconference terminal10, respectively. While this example illustrates only three types ofcommunication application being installed, any number (one, two, or morethan four) of types of communication application may be installed on anyone of the communication terminal.

It is assumed that the OS (1020 or 7020), and the communicationapplication A1, A2, and A3 are installed onto the communication terminal(10 or 70) before shipment to a user side.

Alternatively, application may be added or deleted after shipment, forexample, when software (control program) of the communication terminalis updated. More specifically, after being shipped to the user, thecommunication terminal may access the communication management system 50or any other server to download the upgraded version, or new, software.Further, the communication terminal (10, 70) may replace the existingsoftware with the new version, or upgraded version, of software (controlprogram) being downloaded. When updating software, the communicationapplication installed onto the communication terminal (10, 70) may beupgraded, or replaced with a new version.

<Configuration of Communication System>

Referring now to FIG. 7, a configuration of the communication system isdescribed according to the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagramillustrating a network configuration of the communication system 1 ofFIG. 1.

In FIG. 7, the communication terminal such as the videoconferenceterminal 10, the electronic whiteboard 70, the relay device 30, and thecommunication management system 50, are connected to the communicationnetwork 2 including the Internet. The communication network 2 mayinclude wireless network, in addition to wired network. In this example,the communication terminal 10 is provided at a site A, and thecommunication terminal 70 is provided at a site D. For example, the siteA may be Japan, and the site B may be England. At the site A, a user Xhas a mobile terminal 90 a, which is one example of mobile terminal. Theuser X also operates the communication terminal 10. At the site D, auser Y has a mobile terminal 90 d, which is one example of mobileterminal. The user Y also operates the communication terminal 70. Themobile terminal 90 a communicates with the mobile terminal 90 d througha communication network 3, which is a mobile communication network, viaa base station 3 a and a base station 3 d. In FIG. 7, the communicationterminal 10 is referred to as a first communication terminal, and thecommunication terminal 70 is referred to as a second communicationterminal.

The communication system 1 of FIG. 7 includes one communication terminal10 at the site A and one communication terminal 70 at the site D,however, the communication system 1 may be implemented in various otherways as long as at least one communication terminal (10, 70) is disposedat each location. For example, a plurality of communication terminals(10, 70) may be provided at the site A, and a plurality of communicationterminals (10, 70) may be provided at the site D. That is, thecommunication terminals at the site A may include one or morevideoconference terminals and/or electronic whiteboards, and thecommunication terminals at the site D may include one or morevideoconference terminals and an electronic whiteboards.

<Functional Configuration of Communication System>

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 5 and 8, a functional configuration of thecommunication system is described according to the embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating afunctional configuration of the communication system 1 of FIG. 1according to the embodiment of the present invention.

<Functional Configuration of Terminal>

The terminal 10 includes a transmitter/receiver 11, an acceptor 12, acommunication control 13, a display control 14, a determiner 15, aselector 16, an activator 17, an obtainer/provider 18, and a memorycontrol 19. These units are functions that are implemented by or thatare caused to function by operating any of the hardware componentsillustrated in FIG. 2 in cooperation with the instructions of the CPU101 according to the communication control program expanded from theflash memory 104 to the RAM 103. The communication terminal 10 furtherincludes a memory 1000 configured by the RAM 103 illustrated in FIG. 2,and the flash memory 104 illustrated in FIG. 2.

(Functional Configuration of Communication Terminal)

Next, a functional configuration of the communication terminal 10 isdescribed in detail. The transmitter/receiver 11, which may beimplemented by the instructions of the CPU 101, the network I/F 111, andthe external device connection I/F 118, illustrated in FIG. 2, transmitsor receives various data (or information) to or from the other terminal,apparatus, or system through the communication network 4. Beforestarting communication with a counterpart terminal, thetransmitter/receiver 11 starts receiving terminal state informationindicating an operating state of each communication terminal as acandidate counterpart terminal, from the communication management system50. The state information not only indicates the operating state of eachcommunication terminal (whether the communication terminal is online oroffline), but also indicates a detailed state such as whether thecommunication terminal whose state is online is now capable ofcommunicating or is currently communicating, or the user of thecommunication terminal is not at the communication terminal.Hereinafter, the case in which the state information indicates theoperating state will be described by way of example.

The transmitter/receiver 11 further controls processing to startcommunication between the communication terminal 10 and a counterpartcommunication terminal such as the communication terminal 70.

The acceptor 12, which is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101illustrated in FIG. 2 and by the operation key 108 and the power switch109 illustrated in FIG. 2, accepts various inputs from the user.

The communication control 13 is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 101, and any desired device relating to input or output of contentdata. In one example, the communication control 13 is implemented by theinstructions of the CPU 101 illustrated in FIG. 2 and by the camera 112and the imaging element I/F 113 illustrated in FIG. 2. The communicationcontrol 13 captures an image of a subject and outputs image dataobtained by capturing the image. In one example, the communicationcontrol 13 is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 illustratedin FIG. 2 and by the audio input/output I/F 116 illustrated in FIG. 2.After the sound of the user is converted to an audio signal by themicrophone 114, the communication control 13 receives audio dataaccording to this audio signal. In another example, the communicationcontrol 13 is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 illustratedin FIG. 2 and by the audio input/output I/F 116 illustrated in FIG. 2,and outputs the audio signal according to the audio data to the speaker115, and the speaker 115 outputs audio.

The display control 14 is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101illustrated in FIG. 2 and by the display I/F 117 illustrated in FIG. 2.The display control 14 combines images of different resolutions andtransmits the combined image to the display 120. The display control 14also transmits information on a contact list, received from themanagement system 50, to the display 120, and controls display of thecontact list on the display 120.

The determiner 15, which may be implemented by the instructions of theCPU 101 illustrated in FIG. 2, determines whether any communicationterminal, such as the mobile terminal, is located within a predetermineddistance from the communication terminal 10. The selector 16, which maybe implemented by the instructions of the CPU 101 according to theactivation application 1030 of FIG. 6A, selects communicationapplication to be activated based on the terminal identificationinformation.

For example, in case the terminal identification information is aterminal ID, the communication application A1 is selected. The selector16 analyzes a description format of the terminal identificationinformation to determine whether it is a sequence of characters and/ormarks. If the terminal identification information is a sequence ofcharacters and/or marks, the selector 16 selects the communicationapplication A1 corresponding to the terminal ID. In case the terminalidentification information is a terminal IP address, the communicationapplication A2 is selected. If a description format of the terminalidentification information indicates 32-bit numerals with four sets of8-bit numerals (in case of IPv4), the selector 16 determines that theterminal identification information is the terminal IP address. In casethe terminal identification information is an email address, thecommunication application A3 is selected. The email address is expressedas a string of characters as defined by RFC2822. The selector 16specifically determines whether a left of the mark “@” is a domain name,and a right of the mark “@” is an email server.

In the above-described embodiment, the communication application A1 isselected in case the terminal identification information is a terminalID, the communication application A2 is selected in case the terminalidentification information is an IP address, and the communicationapplication A3 is selected in case the terminal identificationinformation is an email address. Such combination of a type of theterminal identification information and a type of communicationapplication is determined by a description format of the terminalidentification information applicable to the communication application.For this reason, any other combination may be used. For example, otherexamples of the terminal identification information include a user IDidentifying the user operating the counterpart communication terminal,and a user name of the user operating the counterpart communicationterminal. In such case, communication application applicable to adescription format of the terminal identification information for suchuser ID or user name is selected. In case none of communicationapplication being installed with the communication terminal (startingterminal) is applicable to the terminal identification information ofthe counterpart communication terminal, the communication terminal maycontrol its display to display a message indicating that nocommunication application applicable to the terminal identificationinformation of the counterpart communication terminal is available, or amessage requesting a user to install communication applicationapplicable to the terminal identification information of the counterpartcommunication terminal.

The activator 17, which may be implemented by the instructions of theCPU 101 according to the activation application 1030 of FIG. 6A,activates the communication application selected by the selector 16.

The obtainer/provider 18, which may be implemented by the instructionsof the CPU 101, and the near-distance communication circuit 119 with theantenna 119 a, illustrated in FIG. 2, communicates with the counterpartcommunication terminal such as the mobile terminal 90 to transmit(provide) data or receive (obtain) data to or from the counterpartcommunication terminal.

The memory control 19, which is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 101 and the SSD 105 illustrated in FIG. 2, or by the instructions ofthe CPU 101, performs processing to store various types of data in thememory 1000 or the recording medium 1100 or to read various types ofdata stored in the memory 1000 or the recording medium 1100. Further,every time image data and audio data are received in performingcommunication with a counterpart terminal, the memory 1000 overwritesthe image data and audio data. The display 120 displays an image basedon image data before being overwritten, and the speaker 115 outputsaudio based on audio data before being overwritten. The recording medium1100 is implemented by the recording medium 106 illustrated in FIG. 2.

Note that the terminal identification information in the embodiment isan example of identification information that is used to uniquelyidentify a specific communication terminal (10, 70) or the useroperating such terminal, such that a language, a character(s), asymbol(s), or various marks are not limited to the above-describedembodiment. For example, a combination of at least two of theabove-mentioned language, character(s), symbol(s), and various marks maybe used as the terminal identification information. Further, the user IDmay include a name of the user, the individual number that uniquelyassigns each user such as a social security number, etc.

<Functional Configuration of Relay Device>

The relay device 30 includes a transmitter/receiver 31, a determiner 32,and a memory control 39. These units are functions that are implementedby or that are caused to function by operating any of the elementsillustrated in FIG. 3 in cooperation with the instructions of the CPU501 according to the relay device control program expanded from the HD504 to the RAM 503. The relay device 30 also includes a memory 3000implemented by the RAM 504 illustrated in FIG. 3 and/or the HD 504illustrated in FIG. 3.

(Functional Configuration of Relay Device)

Next, a functional configuration of the relay device 30 is described indetail. In the following description of functional configuration of therelay device 30, relationships of the hardware elements in FIG. 3 withthe functional configuration of the relay device 30 in FIG. 8 will alsobe described.

The transmitter/receiver 31 of the relay device 30 illustrated in FIG.8, which is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 501 illustratedin FIG. 3 and by the network I/F 509 illustrated in FIG. 3, transmits orreceives various types of data (or information) to or from anotherterminal, device, or system via the communication network 4. Thetransmitter/receiver 31 also serves as a transferer, which transferscontent data transmitted from one communication terminal (such as thecommunication terminal 10) to another communication terminal (such asthe communication terminal 70).

The determiner 32, which may be implemented by the instructions of theCPU 501 illustrated in FIG. 3, determines delay of data transmission.

The memory control 39, which may be implemented by the instructions ofthe CPU 501 illustrated in FIG. 3 and the HDD 505 illustrated in FIG. 3,performs processing to store various types of data in the memory 3000 orread various types of data stored in the memory 3000.

<Functional Configuration of Management System>

The communication management system 50 includes a transmitter/receiver51, a determiner 52, and a memory control 59. These units are functionsthat are implemented by or that are caused to function by operating anyof the elements illustrated in FIG. 8 in cooperation with theinstructions of the CPU 501 according to the communication managementprogram expanded from the HD 504 to the RAM 503. In addition, thecommunication management system 50 includes a memory 5000 implemented bythe HD 504 illustrated in FIG. 3.

(Authentication Management Table)

FIG. 9 is an illustration of an example data structure of anauthentication management table. The memory 5000 stores anauthentication management DB 5001 such as the authentication managementtable illustrated in FIG. 9. The authentication management table stores,for each one of the terminals (10, 70) managed by the communicationmanagement system 50, the terminal ID and the password in associationwith each other. For example, the authentication management tableillustrated in FIG. 9 indicates that the terminal ID of the terminal 10aa is “01aa”, and the password of the terminal 10 aa is “aaaa”.

(Terminal Management Table)

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an example data structure of a terminalmanagement table. The memory 5000 stores a terminal management DB 5002such as the terminal management table illustrated in FIG. 10. Theterminal management table stores, for each one of the terminals (such asthe communication terminals 10 and 70) managed by the communicationmanagement system 50, the terminal ID of the terminal, a counterpartterminal name in the case where the terminal serves as a counterpartterminal, the operating state of the terminal, a date/time received atwhich login request information described later is received at thecommunication management system 50, and the IP address of the terminal,in association with one another. For example, the terminal managementtable illustrated in FIG. 10 3indicates that the terminal 10 aa with theterminal ID “01aa” has the counterpart terminal name “AA terminal, Tokyooffice, Japan”, the operating state “online (communication OK)”, thedate/time received at which login request information is received by themanagement system 50 “Apr. 10, 2015, 13:40”, and the IP address“1.2.1.3”. The terminal ID, the terminal (counterpart) name, and theterminal IP address in the terminal management table of FIG. 10 isregistered by the communication management system 50, when thecommunication management system 50 accepts registration of eachcommunication terminal (10, 70) that requests services from thecommunication management system 50.

(Contact List Management Table)

FIG. 11 is an illustration of an example data structure of a contactlist management table. The memory 5000 further stores a contact listmanagement DB 5003 implemented by the contact list management tableillustrated in FIG. 11. The contact list management table stores, foreach one of the terminals managed by the communication management system50, the terminal ID of the terminal (starting terminal) that requests tostart communication, in association with the terminal IDs of allcounterpart terminals registered as candidate counterpart terminals forthe starting terminal. For example, the contact list management tableillustrated in FIG. 11 indicates that candidates for a counterpartterminal to which a starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) whose terminal IDis “01aa” can send a request to start communication in a videoconferenceare the terminal 10 ab whose terminal ID is “01ab”, the terminal 10 bawhose terminal ID is “01ba”, the terminal 70 bb whose terminal ID is“07bb”, and so forth. Note that the terminal 70 bb is one example of thecommunication terminal 70, as the electronic whiteboard 70 in FIG. 6.The candidate counterpart terminals are updated by addition or deletionin response to an addition or deletion request received from anarbitrary terminal (starting terminal) to the communication managementsystem 50.

The contact list is just one example of contact information indicating acandidate of counterpart communication terminals, such that the contactinformation may be managed in various ways other than in the form ofcontact list, as long as the counterpart terminal information isassociated with the starting terminal.

(Addition Request Management Table)

FIG. 12 is an illustration of an example data structure of an additionrequest management table. The memory 5000 stores an addition requestmanagement DB 5004 such as the addition request management tableillustrated in FIG. 12. The addition request management table storesinformation regarding an addition request that requests to add aterminal as a candidate counterpart terminal for a terminal. Theaddition request management table stores, for each addition request, aterminal ID of the communication terminal that sends the additionrequest (“request sender terminal”), and a terminal ID of thecommunication terminal that is requested to be added (“requestdestination terminal”), in association with each other.

(Functional Configuration of Management System)

Next, referring back to FIG. 7, a functional configuration of thecommunication management system 50 will be described in detail. In thefollowing description of the functional configuration of thecommunication management system 50, relationships of the hardwareconfiguration of FIG. 3 with functional configuration of the managementsystem 50 in FIG. 8 will also be described.

The transmitter/receiver 51, which is implemented by the instructions ofthe CPU 501 illustrated in FIG. 3 and by the network I/F 509 illustratedin FIG. 3, transmits or receives various types of data (or information)to or from another terminal, device, or system via the communicationnetwork 4.

The determiner 15, which may be implemented by the instructions of theCPU 501 illustrated in FIG. 3, outputs a determination result.

The memory control 59, which may be implemented by the instructions ofthe CPU 501 illustrated in FIG. 3 and the HDD 505 illustrated in FIG. 3,performs processing to store various types of data in the memory 5000 orread various types of data stored in the memory 5000.

<Functional Configuration of Communication Terminal>

The communication terminal 70 includes a transmitter/receiver 71, anacceptor 72, a communication control 73, a display control 74, adeterminer 75, a selector 76, an activator 77, an obtainer/provider 78,and a memory control 79. These units are functions that are implementedby or that are caused to function by operating any of the elementsillustrated in FIG. 4 in cooperation with the instructions of the CPU701 according to the communication control program expanded from the SSD704 to the RAM 703. The communication terminal 70 further includes amemory 7000 configured by the RAM 703 illustrated in FIG. 4, and the SSD704 illustrated in FIG. 4. The communication terminal 70 may be providedwith a recording medium 7100 that is removable.

(Functional Configuration of Communication Terminal)

Next, a functional configuration of the communication terminal 70 isdescribed in detail. The transmitter/receiver 71, which may beimplemented by the instructions of the CPU 701, the network controller705, and the external device connection I/F 706, illustrated in FIG. 4,transmits or receives various data (or information) to or from the otherterminal, apparatus, or system through the communication network 2.Before starting communication with a counterpart terminal, thetransmitter/receiver 71 starts receiving terminal state informationindicating an operating state of each communication terminal as acandidate counterpart terminal, from the communication management system50. The state information not only indicates the operating state of eachcommunication terminal (whether the communication terminal is online oroffline), but also indicates a detailed state such as whether thecommunication terminal whose state is online is now capable ofcommunicating or is currently communicating, or the user of thecommunication terminal is not at the communication terminal. Inaddition, the state information not only indicates the operating stateof each terminal, but also indicates various states, such as the statethat the cable 120 c is disconnected from the terminal 10, the statethat the terminal 10 or 70 can output sounds but not images, or thestate that the terminal 10 or 70 is muted. Hereinafter, the case inwhich the state information indicates the operating state will bedescribed by way of example.

The transmitter/receiver 71 further controls processing to startcommunication with the other communication terminal such as thecounterpart communication terminal 10.

The acceptor 72, which is implemented by the instructions of the CPU701, the contact sensor 715, and the electronic pen controller 716,illustrated in FIG. 4, accepts various inputs from the user.

The communication control 73 is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 701, in cooperation with any desired device relating to input oroutput of content data. In one example, the communication control 13applies image processing to an image captured by the camera 762. Inanother example, the communication control 73, after the audio of theuser is converted to an audio signal by the microphone 764, thecommunication control 13 processes audio data based on this audiosignal. In another example, the communication control 73 outputs theaudio signal according to the audio data to the speaker 765, and thespeaker 765 outputs audio.

In another example, the communication control 73 obtains drawing data,drawn by the user with the electronic pen 754 or the user's hand H ontothe display 753, and converts the drawing data to coordinate data.Further, when the communication terminal 70 transmits the coordinatedata to the other communication terminal 70, the other communicationterminal causes the display 753 to display drawing data based on thecoordinate data received from the communication terminal 70.

The display control 74 is implemented by the instructions of the CPU 701illustrated in FIG. 4 and by the display controller 713 illustrated inFIG. 4. The display control 74 combines images of different resolutionsand transmits the combined image to the display 753. The display control74 also transmits information on a contact list, received from thecommunication management system 50, to the display 753, and controlsdisplay of the contact list on the display 753.

The determiner 75, which may be implemented by the instructions of theCPU 701 illustrated in FIG. 4, determines whether any communicationterminal, such as the mobile terminal 90, is within a predetermineddistance from the communication terminal 70.

The activator 77, which may be implemented by the instructions of theCPU 701 according to the activation application 7030 of FIG. 6B,activates the communication application selected by the selector 76. Theselector 76 selects the communication application to be activated, fromthe communication application A1, A2, and A3 of FIG. 6B, in asubstantially similar manner as described above for the case of theselector 16.

The activator 77, which may be implemented by the instructions of theCPU 701 according to the activation application 7030 of FIG. 6B,activates the communication application selected by the selector 76.

The obtainer/provider 78, which may be implemented by the instructionsof the CPU 701, the near-distance communication circuit 719 with theantenna 719 a, illustrated in FIG. 4, communicates with the counterpartcommunication terminal to transmit (provide) data or receive (obtain)data to or from the counterpart communication terminal.

The obtainer/provider 78, which may be implemented by the instructionsof the CPU 701, the near-distance communication circuit 719 with theantenna 719 a, illustrated in FIG. 4, communicates with the counterpartcommunication terminal to transmit (provide) data or receive (obtain)data to or from the counterpart communication terminal.

The memory control 79, which is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 701 and the SSD 704 illustrated in FIG. 4, or by the instructions ofthe CPU 701, performs processing to store various types of data in thememory 7000 or the recording medium 7100 or to read various types ofdata stored in the memory 7000 or the recording medium 7100. Further,every time image data and audio data are received in performingcommunication with a counterpart terminal, the memory 7000 overwritesthe image data and audio data. The display 753 displays an image basedon image data before being overwritten, and the speaker 765 outputsaudio based on audio data before being overwritten. The recording medium7100 is implemented by the USB memory 755 illustrated in FIG. 4.

<Functional Configuration of Communication Terminal>

Since the communication terminal 90 a and the communication terminal 90d are substantially similar in functional configuration, the functionalconfiguration of the communication terminal 90 d is described as anexample while omitting explanation of the communication terminal 90 a.

The mobile terminal 90 d includes a transmitter/receiver 91 d, anacceptor 92 d, a communication control 93 d, a display control 94 d, adeterminer 95 d, an obtainer/provider 98 d, and a memory control 99 d.These units are functions that are implemented by or that are caused tofunction by operating any of the hardware elements illustrated in FIG. 5in cooperation with the instructions of the CPU 901 according to thecommunication control program expanded from the EEPROM 904 to the RAM903. The communication terminal 90 d further includes a memory 9000 dconfigured by the RAM 903 illustrated in FIG. 5, and the EEPROM 904illustrated in FIG. 5.

(Functional Configuration of Mobile Terminal)

Next, a functional configuration of the mobile terminal 90 d isdescribed in detail. The transmitter/receiver 91 d, which may beimplemented by the instructions of the CPU 901, and the near-distancecommunication circuit 911 with the antenna 911 a, illustrated in FIG. 5,transmits or receives various data (or information) to or from the otherterminal, apparatus, or system through the communication network 3.

The acceptor 92 d, which is implemented by the instructions of the CPU901 illustrated in FIG. 5 and by the touch panel 921 illustrated in FIG.5, accepts various inputs from the user.

The communication control 93 d is implemented by the instructions of theCPU 901 in cooperation with any desired device relating to input oroutput of content data. In one example, the communication control 93 d,implemented by the instructions of the CPU 901 in cooperation with theimaging element I/F 913, applies image processing to an image capturedby the camera 912. In another example, the communication control 93 d isimplemented by the instructions of the CPU 901 in cooperation with theaudio input/output I/F 916. After the audio of the user is converted toan audio signal by the microphone 914, the communication control 93 dprocesses audio data based on this audio signal. In another example, thecommunication control 93 d, implemented by the instructions of the CPU901 and the audio input/output I/F 916, outputs the audio signalaccording to the audio data to the speaker 915, and the speaker 915outputs audio.

The display control 94 d, which may be implemented by the instructionsof the CPU 901, controls display of an image based on the image datathrough the display 917.

The determiner 95 d, which may be implemented by the instructions of theCPU 901 illustrated in FIG. 5, outputs a determination result.

The obtainer/provider 98 d, which may be implemented by the instructionsof the CPU 901, and the near-distance communication circuit 919 with theantenna 919 a, illustrated in FIG. 5, communicates with the counterpartcommunication terminal to transmit (provide) data or receive (obtain)data to or from the counterpart communication terminal.

The memory control 99 d, which may be implemented by the instructions ofthe CPU 901 and the EEPROM 904, illustrated in FIG. 5, performsprocessing to store various types of data in the memory 9000 d or 9100 dor read various types of data stored in the memory 9000 d or 9100 d. Thememory control 19, which is implemented by the instructions of the CPU101 and the SSD 105 illustrated in FIG. 2, or by the instructions of theCPU 101, performs processing to store various types of data in thememory 9000 or the recording medium 9100 d or to read various types ofdata stored in the memory 9000 or the recording medium 9100 d.

(Data Structure of Near-Distance Communication Circuit)

FIG. 13 illustrates a data structure of a near-distance communicationcircuit. The near-distance communication circuit 919 has a datastructure as illustrated in FIG. 13. With this data structure, thenear-distance communication circuit 919 manages data by block number.For instance, a storage area with the block No. 1 stores an identifierof the near-distance communication circuit 919, and a storage area withthe block No. 2 stores a user name of the mobile terminal 90.

The storage areas with the block Nos. 3 to five each store the terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 10 or 70, whichis obtained by the mobile terminal 90 by near-distance communication.The storage areas with the block Nos. 1, 2, and 3 respectively store theterminal ID, the IP address, and the email address. The storage areaswith the block Nos. 6 to 8 each store the terminal identificationinformation of the communication terminal 10 or 70, which receives theterminal identification information that is transmitted from the mobileterminal 90 via the mobile communication network.

<Operation>

Referring to FIGS. 14 to 25, operation performed by the communicationsystem 1 is explained according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. In this following example, it is assumed that the user X(Kato) at site A tires to have a videoconference with the user Y (James)at site D. In such case, the user X calls the user Y to request the userY to send terminal identification information of the communicationterminal 70 via the mobile terminal 90 d through the communicationnetwork 3 to the mobile terminal 90 a. The user X brings the mobileterminal 90 a, which receives the terminal identification information ofthe communication terminal 70, close to the communication terminal 10 tosend the terminal identification information of the communicationterminal 70 to the communication terminal 10. The communication terminal10, which receives the terminal identification information of thecommunication terminal 70, can then start videoconference with thecommunication terminal 70 via the communication network 2. In thisdisclosure, the terminal ID is just one example of terminalidentification information, such that any other description format asdescribed above may be used as terminal identification information.Further, as described above, more than one communication terminal (10,70) may be provided at each site. In case a plurality of communicationterminals (10, 70) are provided at the site D, the user Y may send theterminal identification information of each of the communicationterminals to the user X at the site A, through the mobile phone 90.

Referring to FIGS. 14 and 15, operation of transmitting terminalidentification information for identifying the communication terminal 70db, to the mobile terminal 90 d, is described according to an embodimentof the present invention. The communication terminal 70 db is oneexample of the communication terminal 70 and is operated by the user Y.FIG. 14 is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of providingthe terminal identification information. FIG. 15 is a screen for displayin providing the terminal identification information. In this example,the terminal ID is used as the terminal identification information.

As the user Y at site D operates the communication terminal 70 db withthe electronic pen 754 or the user's hand H, the acceptor 72 of thecommunication terminal 70 db accepts an instruction for displaying aterminal identification information providing screen (S21). The displaycontrol 74 causes the display 753 to display the providing screen asillustrated in FIG. 15 (S22).

The determiner 75 determines whether the mobile terminal 90 d is broughtcloser to the communication terminal 70 db (S23). The following assumesthe case in which the user Y brings the mobile terminal 90 d close tothe communication terminal 70 db.

The memory control 79 of the communication terminal 70 db reads out theterminal identification information of the communication terminal 70 dbfrom the memory 7000 (S24).

The obtainer/provider 78 d of the communication terminal 70 db transmitsa recording request for requesting to record the terminal identificationinformation of the communication terminal 70 db, to the mobile terminal90 d via near-distance wireless communication (S25). The recordingrequest includes the terminal identification information of thecommunication terminal 70 db, and recording area information indicatingan area to store the terminal identification information at the mobileterminal 90 d. The obtainer/provider 98 of the mobile terminal 90 dreceives the recording request. More specifically, the obtainer/provider98 d obtains the terminal identification information and the recordedarea information. The memory control 99 d stores the terminalidentification information in the memory 9000 d, as indicated by therecorded area information (S27). For example, as illustrated in FIG. 13,the terminal ID of the communication terminal 70 db, which is an exampleof the terminal identification information, is stored in a storage areaidentified with the block No. 3.

The operation of FIG. 14 describes an example case in which thecommunication terminal 70 db provides the terminal identificationinformation to the mobile terminal 90 d. In case the communicationterminal 70 (for example, the communication terminal 70 dd) other thanthe communication terminal 70 db is provided at the site D, the mobileterminal 90 d may additionally receive the terminal identificationinformation from the communication terminal 70 dd in a substantiallysimilar manner as described above referring to FIG. 14. In case theterminal identification information that is received from thecommunication terminal 70 dd is an IP address, such IP address of thecommunication terminal 70 dd is stored in a storage area identified withthe block No. 4. Further, the correspondence between the block No. andthe type of terminal identification information, illustrated in FIG. 13,is exemplary, such that any one of the terminal ID, the 1P address, andthe Email address may be stored in any other storage area.

Referring to FIGS. 16 and 17, operation of transmitting and receivingterminal identification information is described according to anembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 16 is a data sequence diagramillustrating operation of transmitting or receiving the terminalidentification information. FIGS. 17A and 17B illustrate example screensfor display at the mobile terminal 90 d, and FIG. 17C illustrates anexample screen for display at the mobile terminal 90 a.

The transmitter/receiver 91 a of the mobile terminal 90 a, and the datatransmitter/receiver 91 d of the mobile terminal 90 d establish acommunication session (first communication session) through thecommunication network 3 (S41).

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 17A, the display control 94 d of the mobileterminal 90 d causes the display 917 of the mobile terminal 90 d todisplay a transmission confirmation key 9010 for allowing the user toconfirm transmission of the terminal identification information of thecommunication terminal 70 db (S42). When the user Y presses thetransmission confirmation key 9010, the display control 94 d determinesa type of the terminal identification information of the communicationterminal 70 db, based on a description format of the terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 70 db that isstored in the memory 9000 d (S43).

Next, the display control 94 d controls the display 917 to display aselection screen 9020, which allows the user to transmit the terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 70 db (S44). Asillustrated in FIG. 17B, the selection screen 9020 displays a pluralityof terminal information type keys each indicating a specific type ofterminal identification information (in this case, terminal ID, IPaddress, and E-mail address), and the “Cancel” key. The terminalinformation type key turns to gray to be unselectable, when the type ofterminal identification information that is indicated by such key doesnot match the type of terminal identification information that is storedin the memory 9000 d. In this example, the “IP address” key and the“E-mail address” key are shown in gray, indicating that the terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 70 db cannot besent in the form of “IP address” or “E-mail address”. In the following,it is assumed that the user Y presses the “Terminal ID” key.

In another example, the mobile terminal 90 d receives terminalidentification information from more than one communication terminals 70at the site D, such that the memory 9000 d stores the terminalidentification information of each communication terminal 70 that isreceived. For example, the memory 9000 d may additionally store theterminal identification information of the other communication terminal70 in the form of IP address or Email address (otherwise, differentformat than the terminal ID of the communication terminal 70 db). Insuch case, the display control 94 d refers to the storage area storingthe IP address or the Email address of the other communication terminal,and causes the terminal information type key “IP address” or theterminal information type key “Email address” on the selection screen9020 to be selectable.

In another example, the memory 9000 d may obtain a plurality items ofterminal identification information of the same type, from differentcommunication terminals at the site D. For example, it is assumed thatthe terminal identification information is received in the form ofterminal ID. In such case, the display control 94 d refers to thestorage area storing the terminal ID of each communication terminal, andcontrols the display 120 to display a plurality of “terminal ID” keys ina manner that is selectable. In such case, each “terminal ID” key may bedisplayed with the terminal ID of a corresponding communicationterminal, which is obtained from the storage area of the memory 9000 d,such that each “terminal ID” key uniquely identifies the communicationterminal. Further, in such case, the terminal IDs may be stored in therespective storage areas of FIG. 13.

When a plurality of terminal information type keys is displayed on theselection screen 17B, the user Y at the mobile terminal 90 d may selectmore than one terminal information type key to cause the mobile terminal90 d to send a plurality of items of terminal identification informationto the mobile terminal 90 a operated by the user X. Alternatively, theuser Y at the mobile terminal 90 d may select only one terminalinformation type key to cause the mobile terminal 90 d to send oneterminal identification information to the mobile terminal 90 a.

Through the selection screen 9020 displayed on the mobile terminal 90 d,the user Y is able to select the type of terminal identificationinformation to be used for communicating with the counterpartcommunication terminal at the site A. More specifically, since the typeof terminal identification information depends on specific communicationapplication in use, it may be convenient for the user Y to select theterminal identification information type that is compatible with thecommunication application installed in the communication terminal to beused by the user Y. Through selecting the type of terminalidentification information to be sent to the mobile terminal 90 aoperated by the user X, the mobile terminal 90 a only receives theselected type of terminal identification information for transmission tothe communication terminal 10. This eliminates a need for requesting theuser at the site A to select specific type of terminal identificationinformation, or specific communication application to be used forcommunicating with the communication terminal 70.

When the user Y selects “Terminal ID” on the selection screen of FIG.17B, the acceptor 92 d of the mobile terminal 90 d accepts a request fortransmission (S45). The transmitter/receiver 91 d of the mobile terminal90 d confirms with the transmitter/receiver 91 a of the mobile terminal90 a to determine whether data can be transmitted through thecommunication network 3 (S46). More specifically, the mobile terminal 90d checks whether the mobile terminal 90 a is able to receive terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 70 db, which isto be transmitted from the mobile terminal 90 d. In case of transmittingterminal identification information of a plurality of communicationterminals, the mobile terminal 90 d checks whether the mobile terminal90 a is able to receive terminal identification information of thecommunication terminals.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 17C, the display control 94 a of the mobileterminal 90 a causes the display 917 to display a selection screen 9030for requesting the user to select whether to receive the terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 70 db (S47).The example case in which the user Y selects to receive is describedbelow.

In another example, when a plurality of items of terminal identificationinformation of the plurality of communication terminals 70 is to bereceived, the selection screen 9030 may inquire the user X whether toreceive the terminal identification information of the plurality ofcommunication terminals 70 that is obtained by the mobile terminal 90 d.As described above, the terminal identification information may be ofthe same type or different type.

In another example, when a plurality of items of terminal identificationinformation of the plurality of communication terminals 70 is to bereceived, the selection screen 9030 may inquire the user X whether toselect which one of the terminal identification information is to bereceived, for example, by displaying a plurality of terminalidentification information type keys each corresponding to each one ofthe plurality of communication terminals 70, in a substantially similarmanner as described above referring to FIG. 17B. In case the terminalidentification information type is the same, the selection screen 9030may display each “terminal ID” key (for example) with the terminal ID ofthe corresponding communication terminal.

When the user X selects “YES” on the selection screen of FIG. 17C, theacceptor 92 a of the mobile terminal 90 a accepts a request forreception (S48). The transmitter/receiver 91 a of the mobile terminal 90a transmits a response to the mobile terminal 90 d, which indicates thatdata can be received through the communication network 3 (S49). Morespecifically, the response indicates that the mobile terminal 90 a isable to receive terminal identification information of the communicationterminal 70 db, which is to be transmitted from the mobile terminal 90d.

Next, the determiner 95 d of the mobile terminal 90 d determinescontents of the response (S49). This determination indicates whether totransmit the terminal identification information of the communicationterminal 70 db.

The transmitter/receiver 91 d of the mobile terminal 90 d transmits theterminal identification information (in this case, the terminal ID),which is obtained at the obtainer/provider 98 d at S25, to the mobileterminal 90 a through the communication network 3 (S51). Together withthe terminal ID, recording area information of the terminal ID istransmitted. The recoding area information indicates an area to storethe terminal ID. The transmitter/receiver 11 of the mobile terminal 90 areceives the terminal ID and the recording area information.

The memory control 99 a of the mobile terminal 90 a stores the terminalID in the memory 9000 a, as indicated by the recorded area information(S52). For example, referring to FIG. 13, the terminal ID of thecommunication terminal 70 d, which is an example of the terminalidentification information, is stored in a storage area identified withthe block No. 6. Accordingly, the terminal ID of the communicationterminal 70 db at the site D is transferred to the mobile terminal 90 aat the site A. The memory control 99 a may alternatively store theterminal ID in any other area, without referring to the recording areainformation. In such case, the mobile terminal 90 a performs processing,which is performed by the selector 16, to determine a description formatof the terminal identification information, and determines an area(block NO.) to be recorded with such terminal identificationinformation.

Referring now to FIGS. 18 and 19, operation of preparing forcommunication between the communication terminal 10 aa and thecommunication terminal 10 ab is explained according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 18 is a data sequence diagram illustratingoperation of preparing for communication between the communicationterminal 10 aa and the communication terminal 10 ab. FIG. 19 is anexample screen of a contact list for display at the communicationterminal 10 aa. The operation of FIGS. 18 and 19 describes the case inwhich the communication terminals 10 communicate with each other.However, the operation of preparing for communication may be performedin a substantially similar manner in the case in which the communicationterminal 10 and the communication terminal 70 communicate with eachother.

In this example, the communication terminal 10 aa corresponds to thecommunication terminal 10 of FIG. 7. The communication terminal 10 ab isalso a videoconference terminal, which can be a counterpart terminal forthe communication terminal 10 aa. For simplicity, in FIG. 18, only thecommunication terminal 10 aa and the communication terminal 10 ab, whichare communicable via the communication management system 50, areillustrated.

First, when the user X presses the operation key 108 illustrated in FIG.2 and selects communication application 1030 to be activated, theacceptor 12 of the terminal 10 aa accepts a request for activatingselected communication application 1030, and activates such application1030 (S61). The transmitter/receiver 11 of the terminal 10 aa transmitslogin request information indicating a login request to thecommunication management system 50 via the communication network 2(S62). The login request information includes a terminal ID foridentifying the terminal 10 aa, which is a local terminal serving as astarting terminal, and a password. The terminal ID and the password aredata that have been read via the memory control 19 from the memory 1000and sent to the transmitter/receiver 11.

Next, the memory control 59 of the management system 50 performsterminal authentication by searching the authentication management tableof FIG. 9 using the terminal ID and the password included in the loginrequest information received via the data transmitter/receiver 51 assearch keys, and determining whether the same terminal ID and the samepassword are managed in the authentication management table of FIG. 9(S63). In the case where the memory control 59 determines that the loginrequest is a login request received from the authenticated terminalsince the same terminal ID and the same password are managed, the memorycontrol 59 stores, in a record for the terminal ID received at S62 inthe terminal management table of FIG. 10, the operating state (Online(communication OK), and the date/time received at which theabove-described login request information is received. For example, ifthe terminal 10 aa has the terminal ID “01aa”, the memory control 59stores the operating state “Online (Communication OK)” and the date/timereceived “4.10.2015.13:40” in association with the terminal ID “01aa” inthe terminal management table illustrated in FIG. 10. Further, in thisexample, the terminal 10 aa may transmit the IP address of the terminal10 aa to the management system 50 (S62). Alternatively, the terminal IPaddress may be previously registered in the terminal management table inassociation with the terminal ID.

The transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmitsauthentication result information indicating an authentication resultobtained by the memory control 59 to the starting terminal 10 aa whichhas sent the above-mentioned login request, via the communicationnetwork 2 (S65). In the following, the case in which it has beendetermined by the memory control 59 that the terminal 10 aa is aterminal that has a legitimate use authority will be described asfollows.

As the terminal 10 aa, which is the starting terminal, receives theauthentication result information indicating that the terminal 10 aa isan authenticated terminal at the transmitter/receiver 11, thetransmitter/receiver 11 of the terminal 10 aa transmits contact listrequest information that requests for contact list to the managementsystem 50 through the communication network 2 (S66). Thetransmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 receives the contactlist request information.

The memory control 59 of the management system 50 searches the contactlist management table (FIG. 11) using the terminal ID of the startingterminal 10 aa which has sent the login request as a search key, toextract the terminal ID of a candidate counterpart terminal that cancommunicate with the starting terminal 10 aa. The memory control 59 ofthe management system 50 further reads out the terminal name associatedwith the extracted terminal ID from the terminal management table (FIG.10) (S67). In this example, the terminal IDs (such as “01ab”. . . ) andthe terminal names (such as “Japan Osaka Office AB Terminal”) of theterminals 10 ab . . . , as a counterpart terminal for the startingterminal 10 aa, are extracted from the contact list management table(FIG. 11) and the terminal management table (FIG. 10).

The memory control 59 of the communication management system 50 readscontact list frame data, and icon data reflecting the operating state ofeach candidate counterpart terminal that is read, from the memory 5000(S68). The transmitter/receiver 51 further transmits the contact listinformation to the starting terminal 10 aa (S69). The contact listinformation includes the contact list frame data, and the icon data, theterminal ID, and the terminal name of each candidate counterpartterminal 10. The starting terminal 10 aa, which receives the contactlist information at the transmitter/receiver 11, stores the receivedcontact list information in the memory 1000 via the memory control 19(S70).

As described above, in this embodiment, instead of managing contact listinformation at each communication terminal, the management system 50centrally manages contact list information for all of the terminals 10.In this way, even when a communication terminal is newly added or theexisting communication terminal is replaced with a different type ofcommunication terminal, or even when contact list frame is changed, thecommunication management system 50 can centrally reflect such changewithout requiring each communication terminal to reflect such change.

Still referring to FIG. 18, the memory control 59 of the managementsystem 50 searches the terminal management table (FIG. 10) using theextracted terminal IDs (10 ab . . . ) of the candidate counterpartterminals (10 ab . . . ), as search keys, to obtain the operating statesof the candidate counterpart terminals (S71).

Next, the transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmitscounterpart terminal state information including the terminal IDsserving as the search keys used at S67 and the operating states of thecounterpart terminals corresponding to these terminal IDs to thestarting terminal 10 aa via the communication network 2 (S72).

The starting terminal 10 aa stores the terminal state information, whichmay be received from the management system 50 sequentially or at once,in the memory 1000 (S73). Based on the terminal state informationreceived for each candidate counterpart terminal, the starting terminal10 aa is able to know the current operating state of each candidatecounterpart terminal such as the operating state of the communicationterminal 10 ab.

Based on the contact list information and the terminal state informationstored in the memory 1000, the display control 14 of the startingterminal 10 aa generates a contact list that reflects the currentoperating state of each candidate counterpart terminal. The displaycontrol 14 further displays the contact list on the display 120 of FIG.2, as illustrated in FIG. 19 (S74). In FIG. 19, the icons eachreflecting the operating state of the corresponding terminal aredisplayed at left. More specifically, the icons in FIG. 19 indicate theoperating states of “online (communication OK)”, “offline”, “online(communication OK)”, and “online (communicating), from the top to thebottom.

The memory control 59 of the management system 50 further searches thecontact list management table of FIG. 11 using the terminal ID “01aa” ofthe starting terminal 10 aa which has sent the login request as a searchkey, to extract the terminal ID of another starting terminal thatregisters the terminal ID “01aa” of the starting terminal 10 aa as acandidate counterpart terminal (S75). In the candidate list managementtable illustrated in FIG. 11, the terminal IDs of other startingterminals that are extracted are “01ab”, “01ba”, and “07db”.

Next, the memory control 59 of the management system 50 searches thecontact list management table (FIG. 10) using the terminal ID of thestarting terminal 10 aa which has sent the login request as a searchkey, and obtains the operating state of the starting terminal 10 aa(S76).

The transmitter/receiver 51 transmits counterpart terminal stateinformation including the terminal ID “01aa” and the operating state“Online (Communication OK)” of the starting terminal 10 aa, obtained atS76, to terminals (10 ab and 70 db) whose operating states are “Online(Communication OK)” in the terminal management table (FIG. 10), amongthe terminals (10 ab, 10 ba, and 70 db) having the terminal IDs (“01ab”,“01ba”, and “07db”) extracted at S75 (S77). When transmitting thecounterpart terminal state information to the terminals (10 ab and 70db), the transmitter/receiver 51 refers to the IP addresses of theterminals, which are managed in the terminal management tableillustrated in FIG. 10, using the terminal IDs (“01ab” and “07db”).Accordingly, the terminal ID “01aa” and the operating state “online” ofthe starting terminal (terminal 10 aa) which has sent the login requestcan be transmitted to other counterpart terminals (terminals 10 ab and70 db) that can communicate with the starting terminal (terminal 10 aa).Accordingly, the candidate counterpart terminal 10 (such as the terminal10 ab) is able to display the contact list with the operating stateinformation as illustrated in FIG. 18 (S78).

Referring to FIGS. 20 to 22, operation of obtaining terminalidentification information for identifying the communication terminal 70d (such as the communication terminal 70 db) from the mobile terminal 90a, by the communication terminal 10, is described according to anembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 20 is a data sequence diagramillustrating operation of obtaining the terminal identificationinformation. FIG. 21 is an example screen to be displayed at the mobileterminal 90 a operated by the user “a”. FIG. 22 is a flowchartillustrating operation of identifying a destination. In this embodiment,the communication terminal 10 aa is one example of the communicationterminal 10 operated by the user X.

The user X at the site A brings the mobile terminal 90 a close to thecommunication terminal 10 aa, while the contact list of FIG. 19 is beingdisplayed on the display 120 of the communication terminal 10 aa. Thedeterminer 15 of the communication terminal 10 aa determines whether anydevice is detected near the communication terminal 10 aa. The followingassumes the case in which the user X brings the mobile terminal 90 aclose to the communication terminal 10 aa such that the mobile terminal90 a is detected.

The obtainer/provider 98 a of the communication terminal 10 aa transmitsa request for reading the terminal identification information to themobile terminal 90 a via near-distance wireless communication (S82). Thememory control 99 a of the mobile terminal 90 a reads out the terminalidentification information (in this example, the terminal ID) of thecommunication terminal 70 db from the memory 9000 (S83). In case thereis a plurality of items of terminal identification information beingstored in the memory 9000 a, the memory control 99 a reads out each oneof the terminal identification information from the memory 9000 a.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 21, the display control 94 a of the mobileterminal 90 a causes the display 917 to display a selection screen 9040for requesting the user to select whether to provide the terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 70 db to thecommunication terminal 10 aa (S84). As illustrated in FIG. 21, theselection screen 9040 displays a plurality of terminal identificationinformation types (terminal ID, IP address, and E-mail address), and the“Cancel” key. These keys are similar in appearance to those illustratedin FIG. 17B. In this example, the “IP address” key and the “E-mailaddress” key are turned to gray to be unselectable, indicating that theterminal identification information cannot be provided in the form of IPaddress or E-mail address. In the following, it is assumed that the userX presses the “Terminal ID” key.

As described above, in another example, the memory control 99 a may readout from the memory 9000 a, a plurality of items of terminalidentification information. In one example, the “IP address” key or“Email address” key may be displayed as selectable, if the terminalidentification information is stored in the form of IP address or Emailaddress. In another example, if there is more than one terminalidentification information being stored with the same format, aplurality of terminal identification type keys may be displayed in amanner that is selectable.

As the user X presses the “Terminal ID” key on the selection screen ofFIG. 21, the acceptor 92 a of the mobile terminal 90 a receives arequest for transmission (S85). The obtainer/provider 98 a of thecommunication terminal 90 a provides the terminal identificationinformation (in this example, terminal ID) of the communication terminal70 db, to the communication terminal 10 aa (S86). The obtainer/provider18 of the communication terminal 10 aa receives the terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 70 db. Thememory control 19 stores the terminal identification information in thememory 1000 (S87). The terminal identification information may be asingle item or a plurality of items of information.

The communication terminal 10 aa identifies a destination using theterminal identification information (terminal ID) that is stored at S87(S88). Referring to FIG. 22, S88 of identifying the destination isdescribed.

As illustrated in FIG. 22, the selector 16 of the communication terminal10 aa selects communication application to be activated, based on thereceived terminal identification information (S88-1). In this example,since the terminal ID is received, the selector 16 selects thecommunication application A1 corresponding to the terminal ID to startcommunication. The activator 17 activates the communication applicationA1 (S88-2).

In case a plurality of items of terminal identification information thatdiffer in description format is stored at S87, a plurality of types ofcommunication application may be subject for selection.

More specifically, the display control 14 causes the display 120 todisplay a screen, which requests the user to select one of communicationapplications that are available for activation. The communicationapplications available for activation depend on types of the terminalidentification information that are received from the mobile terminal 10a. Based on a user selection input through the communication terminal 10aa, the selector 16 may select the communication application to beexecuted.

In case the communication terminal 10 aa is not installed withcommunication application that corresponds to the terminalidentification information type, the display control 14 may control thedisplay 120 to display a message indicating that the communicationapplication corresponding to the selected terminal identificationinformation type is not available.

The memory control 99 a searches the contact list information stored inthe memory 1000 at S70 using the terminal ID received at S86 as a searchkey to determine whether the received terminal ID matches any one of theterminal IDs of the candidate counterpart terminals (S88-3). When it isdetermined that the received terminal ID matches any one of the terminalIDs of the candidate counterpart terminals as indicated by the contactlist information (“YES” at S88-3), the operation proceeds to S121 ofFIG. 25. When it is determined that the received terminal ID does notmatch any one of the terminal IDs in the candidate counterpart terminalsas indicated by the contact list information (“NO” at S88-3), theoperation proceeds to S101 of FIG. 23A.

Referring to FIGS. 23 and 24, operation of adding a candidatecounterpart terminal to the contact list is described according to theembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 23 is a data sequence diagramillustrating operation of adding a candidate counterpart terminal to thecontact list. FIG. 24 is an example screen for requesting approval toadd a candidate counterpart terminal to the contact list.

In this example, it is assumed that the terminal 10 aa requests thecommunication terminal 70 db to approve to add the communicationterminal 70 db to a contact list of the communication terminal 10 aa.Here, the communication terminal 10 aa corresponds to the request senderterminal, and the communication terminal 70 db corresponds to therequest destination terminal.

The transmitter/receiver 11 of the request sender terminal 10 aatransmits a request for adding the counterpart terminal (additionrequest) to the communication management system 50 through thecommunication network 2 (S101). The addition request includes theterminal ID “01aa” of the request sender terminal 10 aa, and theterminal ID “07db” of the request destination terminal 70 db. Thetransmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 receives theaddition request.

The memory control 59 of the communication management system 50 stores,for a new entry of the addition request management table (FIG. 12), theterminal ID “01aa” of the request sender terminal 10 aa in a requestsender terminal ID field, and the terminal ID “07db” of the requestdestination terminal 70 db in a request destination terminal ID field(S102).

The determiner 52 searches the terminal management table (FIG. 10) usingthe terminal 1D “07db” of the request destination terminal 70 db toobtain the operating state of the communication terminal 70 db (S103).When the determiner 52 determines that the request destination terminal70 db is online but has not started communication, at S104, thetransmitter/receiver 51 transmits an addition approval request forrequesting approval to add, to the request destination terminal 70 db(S104). The addition approval request includes the terminal ID “01aa” ofthe request 10 aa. The transmitter/receiver 71 of the requestdestination terminal 70 db receives the addition approval request.

Next, the display control 74 of the request destination terminal 70 dbcauses the display 753 to display an addition request response screen asillustrated in FIG. 24 (S105).

The transmitter/receiver 71 of the request destination terminal 70 dbtransmits a response to the addition approval request, which indicatesapproval, rejection, or holding, to the communication management system50 (S106). The user D, at the site D, selects “YES” key on the screen toapprove the request for adding the terminal 70 db to the contact list.The user D selects “NO” key on the screen to reject the request foradding the terminal 70 db to the contact list. The user D selects“CANCEL” key on the screen to postpone a response to the request foradding the terminal 70 db to the contact list. The transmitter/receiver51 of the management system 50 receives the response to the additionapproval request. The example case in which the response indicatesapproval to add the request destination terminal 70 db to the contactlist for the terminal 10 aa.

The memory control 59 of the management system 50 registers the terminalID “07db” of the request destination terminal 70 db, in a record(contact list) for the request sender terminal 10 aa in the contact listmanagement table (FIG. 11) (S107).

If the response indicates to reject the request for adding the terminal70 db, at S107, the memory control 59 deletes the record created for therequest sender terminal 10 aa, in the 3 0 addition request managementtable (FIG. 12). If the response indicates to hold the response, atS107, the memory control 59 just waits for response, while notperforming anything with respect to the contact list management table orthe addition request management table.

The memory control 59 searches the terminal management table (FIG. 10)using the terminal ID “01aa” of the request sender terminal 10 aa andthe terminal ID “07db” of the request destination terminal 70 db, toobtain the terminal name and the operating state for each of the requestsender terminal and the request destination terminal (S108). Thetransmitter/receiver 51 transmits a notification indicating completionof addition to the contact list to each of the request sender terminal10 aa and the request destination terminal 70 db (S109-1, 2). Thenotification to be transmitted to the request sender terminal 10 aaincludes a message indicating completion of addition, and variousinformation (terminal ID, terminal name, and operating state) of therequest destination terminal 70 db. That is, only information regardingthe communication terminal 70 db that is newly added is transmitted tothe communication terminal 10 aa. The notification to be transmitted tothe request destination terminal 70 db includes a message indicatingcompletion of addition, and various information (terminal ID, terminalname, and operating state) of the request sender terminal 10 aa.

The display control 14 of the request sender terminal 10 aa causes thedisplay 120 to display a screen indicating completion of addition(S110-1). The display control 74 of the request destination terminal 70db causes the display 753 to display a screen indicating completion ofaddition (S110-2). After S101-1 and S101-2, the memory control 59 of thecommunication management system 50 deletes the record created for therequest sender terminal 10 aa and the request destination terminal 70db, in the addition request management table (FIG. 12) (S111). Theoperation then automatically proceeds to S121of FIG. 25.

In case addition to the contact list is not needed, S121 may beautomatically performed after activation of communication application atS88-2, without performing S88-3 and S88-4 of FIG. 22.

Referring to FIG. 25, operation of preparing for transmission of imagedata and audio data, performed by the communication system 1, isdescribed according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 25is a data sequence diagram illustrating operation of preparing fortransmission of image data and audio data.

When it is determined that the contact list information includes thereceived terminal ID (“YES” at S88-4 of FIG. 22), the user X does nothave to select the communication terminal 70 db, from the contact listof FIG. 19, as a counterpart terminal to start communication. In suchcase, the communication terminal 10 aa automatically transmits a 3 0communication start request to the communication management system 50.Specifically, the transmitter/receiver 11 transmits a communicationstart request to the communication management system 50 through thecommunication network 2 (S121). The communication start request includesthe terminal ID “01aa” of the starting terminal 10 aa, and the terminalID “07db” of the counterpart terminal 70 db. The transmitter/receiver 51of the management system 50 receives the communication start request.

On the basis of the terminal ID “01aa” of the starting terminal 10 aaand the terminal ID (“07db”) of the counterpart terminal 70 db, whichare included in the communication start request, the memory control 59of the communication management system 50 changes the operating statefield of each of records including the above-mentioned terminal IDs“01aa” and “07db” to “communicating” in the terminal management table(FIG. 10) (S 122). In this state, although the starting terminal 10 aaand the counterpart terminal 70 db have not started communicating, theseterminals enter a communicating state, and, if another terminal 10 triesto communicate with the starting terminal 10 aa or the counterpartterminal 70 db, a notification sound or display that indicates that theterminal is communicating is output.

Next, the memory control 59 of the communication management system 50searches the terminal management table (FIG. 10) using the terminal ID“01aa” of the starting terminal 10 aa and the terminal ID “07db” of thecounterpart terminal 70 db, received at S121, as search keys, to readcorresponding IP addresses (S123).

The transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits thecommunication start request to the IP address of the counterpartterminal 70 db, which is read at S123 (S124). The communication startrequest includes the terminal IDs “01aa” and “07db”, as received atS121. The transmitter/receiver 71 of the counterpart terminal 70 dbreceives the communication start request.

The transmitter/receiver 71 of the counterpart terminal 70 db transmitsa response to the communication start request, to the communicationmanagement system 50 (S125). The transmitter/receiver 51 of themanagement system 50 receives the response to the communication startrequest. The communication start request indicates whether to accept orreject communication. The example case of accepting the communicationstart request is described.

The transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits arelay start request indicating a request for starting relaying to therelay device 30 (S126). The relay start request includes the IPaddresses of the starting terminal 10 aa and the counterpart terminal 70db read at S123. The transmitter/receiver 31 of the relay device 30receives the relay start request.

The transmitter/receiver 51 of the management system 50 transmits theresponse to the communication start request, which is received at S125,to the starting terminal 10 aa (S127). As described above, in thisexample, the transmitter/receiver 11 of the starting terminal 10 aareceives the response accepting the communication start request.

As described above, the starting terminal 10 aa and the counterpartterminal 70 db establish an image data/audio data communication sessionvia the relay device 30 (S128-1, 2) to start videoconference.

As described above, in case the user X at the site A wants to startcommunication with the user Y at the site D using the communicationterminal 10, the user Y causes the mobile terminal 90 d to receiveterminal identification information from the communication terminal 70at the site D by near-distance communication. The user Y operates themobile terminal 90 d to transmit the obtained terminal identificationinformation of the communication terminal 70, to the mobile terminal 90a operated by the user X through the communication network 3. At thesite A, the user X causes the mobile terminal 90 a to transmit theobtained terminal identification information of the communicationterminal 70, to the communication terminal 10 by near-distancecommunication.

This simplifies a process of preparing to start communication, as thereis no need to manually select the communication terminal 70 from acontact list, or manually input terminal identification information ofthe communication terminal 70. This greatly reduces the time forpreparing for communication.

More specifically, in case the communication terminal (10, 70) isinstalled with a plurality of types of communication application (suchas communication applications A1, A2, and A3), the user needs to selecta type of terminal identification information to be input, as theterminal identification information type differs among the communicationapplications, for example, due to the differences in communicationsprotocol.

In view of this, according to at least one embodiment of the presentinvention, the communication terminal 10 at the site A selects specificapplication (for example, communication application A1 selected fromcommunication applications A1, A2, and A3), based on a descriptionformat of the terminal identification information of the communicationterminal 70 (S88-1, 2 of FIG. 22). This eliminates a need for searchingfor a specific type of communication application to be activated, or aspecific type of terminal identification information that is compatiblewith such communication application.

Moreover, selecting a communication terminal 70 from among a pluralityof candidate counterpart communication terminals on the contact list hasbeen cumbersome. For example, the user X may need to manually select theterminal identification information of the communication terminal 70,from the contact list being displayed by the communication terminal 10,to start communication with the communication terminal 70. This may taketime, especially when the contact list contains a large number ofcandidate counterpart communication terminals.

In view of this, according to at least one embodiment of the presentinvention, the communication terminal 10 receives the terminalidentification information of the communication terminal 70, from themobile terminal 90 a that receives the terminal identificationinformation of the communication terminal 70. The communication terminal10 then identifies the communication terminal 70 as a counterpartcommunication terminal to be communicated through the communicationnetwork 2 (S88-3), using the received terminal identificationinformation. The communication terminal 10 starts communication with thecommunication terminal 70 that is identified, through the communicationnetwork 2 (S61). This eliminates a need for manually selecting thecommunication terminal 70, thus reducing the time for preparing to startcommunication.

If more than one communication terminal (10, 70) is available at thesite D as a counterpart communication terminal for the communicationterminal 10 at the site A, the user may select only one communicationterminal out of the plurality of communication terminals. In such case,the user Y causes the mobile terminal 10 d to only obtain the terminalidentification information of the selected communication terminal fortransmission to the mobile terminal 90 a at the site A. Based on theterminal identification information received from the mobile terminal 90a, the communication terminal 10 at the site A can easily identify thecounterpart communication terminal.

Alternatively, the user Y may cause the mobile terminal 10 d to obtain aplurality of items of terminal identification information eachidentifying the communication terminal at the site D. For example, theuser Y may select a reasonable number (for example, a few) ofcommunication terminals 70 that the user Y wants to use forcommunication with the user X at the site A. The mobile terminal 10 d,which obtains the plurality of items of terminal identificationinformation respectively from the communication terminals 70, displayson a screen, a plurality of terminal identification information typekeys each indicating a type of the obtained terminal identificationinformation. The user Y can then select one or more of the plurality ofterminal identification information type keys for transmission to themobile terminal 90 a. Further, in case there is more than one terminalidentification information type, the mobile terminal 90 a may requestthe user to select one of the terminal identification information typesfor transmission to the communication terminal 10 at the site A. Basedon the received terminal identification information received from themobile terminal 90 a, the communication terminal 10 at the site A caneasily identify the counterpart communication terminal. That is, whenthere is more than one communication terminal 70 that can be used by theuser Y at the site D, the user Y may cause the mobile terminal 90 d totransmit terminal identification information of a plurality ofcommunication terminals 70. The user X at the site A may select onecommunication terminal 70, out of the plurality of communicationterminals 70, as a counterpart communication terminal 70, for example,through the screen provided by the mobile terminal 90 a.

Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within thescope of the appended claims, the disclosure of the present inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Forexample, elements and/or features of different illustrative embodimentsmay be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other withinthe scope of this disclosure and appended claims.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the communicationterminal 10 aa selects communication application to be activated, basedon a description format of the terminal identification information atS88. Alternatively, the mobile terminal 90 a may further transmit typeinformation indicating a type of terminal identification information atS86. In such case, the selector 16 of the communication terminal 10 aadoes not have to determine a type of terminal identificationinformation, but selects the communication application based on the typeinformation that is received.

In the above-described embodiment, the communication terminal (10, 70)provides the terminal identification information to the mobile terminal90 by near-distance wireless communication, however, the communicationterminal may provide using any other communication network such as by aUSB cable.

In addition, although the case of a videoconference terminal has beendescribed as an example of a communication terminal in theabove-described embodiment, the embodiment is not limited to this case,and the communication system 1 may be a phone system such as an IP phonesystem or an Internet phone system. In addition, a smart phone, a smartwatch, a mobile phone, a car navigation terminal, a wearable computer, amonitoring camera, a digital camera communicable using WiFi, anycommunication device (a projector, a game machine), a digital signage,or industrial equipment with a communication function may be used. Awearable computer includes a watch and a head-mounted display.Industrial equipment includes office equipment such as a multifunctionperipheral (MFP)/printer/product, medical equipment such as an endoscopeand a Computed Tomography (CT) scan, and agricultural equipment such asa cultivator.

In addition, although image data and audio data are described asexamples of content data in the above-described embodiment, the contentdata is not limited to these items of data, and the content data may betouch data. In this case, a feeling obtained by a user's contact at oneterminal side is transmitted to the other terminal side. Further, thecontent data may be smell data. In this case, a smell at one terminalside is transmitted to the other terminal side. In addition, the contentdata may be at least one of image data, audio data, touch data, andsmell data.

In addition, although the case in which a videoconference is held by thecommunication system 1 has been described in the above-describedembodiment, the embodiment is not limited to this case. Thecommunication system 1 may be used in meetings, general conversationbetween family members or friends, or one-way presentation ofinformation.

In case the communication terminal 70 is implemented as the electronicwhiteboard, because of its relatively large size, the functions of thecommunication management system 50 and/or the relay device 30 may beincorporated in the communication terminal 70. In such case, theterminal at the site A and the terminal at the site D can becommunicated via the Intranet, configuring the on-premises system. Thisimproves a level of security.

In the above-described embodiment, the recording request or the readingrequest is transmitted or received by near-distance wirelesscommunication. Alternatively, such request may be transmitted orreceived by ultrasonic communication. In alternative to transmitting therecording request, the communication terminal 10 or 70 may display animage encoded with the terminal identification information such as theterminal ID (for example, in the form of a bi-dimensional bar code or aQR code). The mobile terminal 90 a or 90 d may capture the image withthe camera to obtain the terminal ID of the communication terminal 10 or70, and store the obtained the terminal ID in its memory. In alternativeto transmitting the reading request, the communication terminal 10 or 70may display an image encoded with the terminal ID (for example, in theform of a bi-dimensional bar code or a QR code). The mobile terminal 90a or 90 d may capture the image with the camera to obtain the terminalID of the communication terminal 10 or 70.

Each of the functions of the described embodiments may be implemented byone or more processing circuits or circuitry. Processing circuitryincludes a programmed processor, as a processor includes circuitry. Aprocessing circuit also includes devices such as an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), digital signal processor (DSP), fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), and conventional circuit componentsarranged to perform the recited functions.

1. A mobile communication terminal, comprising: a receiver to receive,from a first communication terminal, first terminal identificationinformation for identifying the first communication terminal, the firstcommunication terminal being a counterpart communication terminal for asecond communication terminal; circuitry to control a display to displaytype information indicating a type of the first terminal identificationinformation as being selectable by a user; and a transmitter to transmitthe first terminal identification information to a counterpart mobilecommunication terminal, in response to a user selection of the type ofthe first terminal identification information.
 2. The mobilecommunication terminal of claim 1, wherein the circuitry determines thetype of the first terminal identification information based on adescription format of the first terminal identification information. 3.The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the transmitterfurther transmits information indicating the type of the first terminalidentification information to the 2 0 counterpart mobile communicationterminal.
 4. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein thetype of the first terminal identification information is one of 1)terminal identification for identifying the first communicationterminal, 2) Internet Protocol address for accessing the firstcommunication terminal, and 3) email address assigned to a user of thefirst communication terminal.
 5. The mobile communication terminal ofclaim 1, wherein the receiver receives the first terminal identificationinformation from the first communication terminal by near-distancewireless communication.
 6. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1,wherein the transmitter transmits the first terminal identificationinformation to the counterpart mobile communication terminal through amobile communication network.
 7. The mobile communication terminal ofclaim 1, further comprising: the display to display a plurality ofgraphical representations each reflecting a specific type of terminalidentification information, the graphical representations including:first graphical representation reflecting the type of the first terminalidentification information that is selectable by the user; and secondgraphical representation reflecting terminal identification informationother than the type of the first terminal identification information,that is unselectable by the user.
 8. The mobile communication terminalof claim 1, wherein the first communication terminal includes at leastone communication terminal selected by the user as a counterpartcommunication terminal for the second communication terminal, from aplurality of communication terminals available for communication.
 9. Acommunication system, comprising: a first mobile communication terminalconfigured to communicate with a first communication terminal bynear-distance communication; and a second mobile communication terminalconfigured to communicate with a second communication terminal bynear-distance communication, wherein the first mobile communicationterminal includes: a receiver to receive, from the first communicationterminal, first terminal identification information for identifying thefirst communication terminal; circuitry to control a display to displaytype information indicating a type of the first terminal identificationinformation as being selectable by a first user operating the firstmobile communication terminal; and a transmitter to transmit the firstterminal identification information to the second mobile communicationterminal, in response to a user selection of the type of the firstterminal identification information.
 10. The communication system ofclaim 9, wherein the second mobile communication terminal includes: amemory to store the first terminal identification information receivedfrom the first mobile communication terminal; circuitry to read thefirst terminal identification information from the memory, in responseto a request for reading terminal identification information, receivedfrom the second communication terminal, and control a display to displaytype information indicating the type of the first terminalidentification information as being selected by a second user operatingthe second mobile communication terminal; and a transmitter to transmitthe first terminal identification information to the secondcommunication terminal, in response to a user selection of the type ofthe first terminal identification information.
 11. The communicationsystem of claim 9, further comprising: the first communication terminalto transmit the first terminal identification information to the firstmobile communication terminal; and the second communication terminal toreceive the first terminal identification information from the secondmobile communication terminal, and transmit a request for startingcommunication with the first communication terminal identified with thefirst terminal identification information.
 12. A method of preparing tostart communication between a first communication terminal and a secondcommunication terminal, performed by a mobile communication terminal,the method comprising: receiving, from the first communication terminal,first terminal identification information for identifying the firstcommunication terminal, the first communication terminal being acounterpart communication terminal for the second communicationterminal; displaying, on a display, type information indicating a typeof the first terminal identification information as being selectable bya user; and transmitting the first terminal identification informationto a counterpart mobile communication terminal, in response to a userselection of the type of the first terminal identification information.